Dooplaya Situation Update: Kyainseikgyi Township, February to May 2017

This Situation Update describes events occurring in Kyainseikgyi Township, Dooplaya District during the period between February and May 2017, including development projects, taxation, military activities, the suicide of a Democratic Karen Benevolent Army (DKBA) soldier, land confiscation and transport rules.

300 brick houses for returning refugees and/or internally displaced people (IDP) in Lay Hpa Htaw/Zi Pin village, Noh T’Kaw Township, Dooplaya District were constructed by Shwe Min Ta Mun Public Co LTD during the period between 2016 and 2017. The land was provided by the Karen National Union (KNU) and funded by the Nippon Foundation, but the local authority has not allowed the returning refugees and IDPs to stay in those houses yet.

The Border Guard Force (BGF), who are based in Kyeh Doe area, taxed elephants in A--- village, Noh Taw Plah village tract, Noh T’Kaw Township, Dooplaya District between March and April 2017. The elephant owners refused to pay the tax because the BGF could not provide tax receipts and they did not understand the administrative role of the BGF or the reason for the taxation.

Motorcycle taxation in A--- village, Noh Taw Plah village tract, Noh T’Kaw Township, Dooplaya District was collected by the KNU. However, the KNU does not provide a tax disc that is legally valid throughout Karen State. Therefore, the civilians do not feel safe travelling near Kyainseikgyi Town in Karen state.

On January 5th 2017, DKBA platoon commander Htee Klee, who is based in Khoh Ther Pler (Three Pagodas) area, came to B--- village, Meh Pra village tract, Noh T’Kaw Township, Dooplaya District. B--- villager, Saw Lwee Heh, signed up to be a soldier in his platoon, believing the position to be well paid. Saw Lwee Heh had been a DKBA soldier for three months without receiving any money, yet he was unable to resign from his job. Saw Lwee Heh later killed himself by drinking pesticide.

On May 10th 2017, villagers from Noh Ta Khaw village who were constructing the road between 19 Ter (19 miles) area and Noh Ta Khaw village, Noh T’Kaw township, Dooplaya District built a small dam to block the villagers’ water channel that goes into C--- village, without holding a consultation meeting or making an agreement with the land owners. Therefore, the land owners were dissatisfied with the small dam construction.

These photos were taken on February 26th 2017 in Ma Taw Htoo [Lay Hpa Htaw/Zi Pin] village, Noh T’Kaw Township [Kyainseikgyi], Dooplaya District. These photos show houses that were funded by the Nippon Foundation and constructed by Shwe Min Ta Mun Public Co. LTD between 2016 and 2017. They [local authority] said those houses are for the IDPs and returning refugees. [Photos: KHRG]

These photos were taken on February 26th 2017 in Ma Taw Htoo [Lay Hpa Htaw/Zi Pin] village, Noh T’Kaw Township [Kyainseikgyi], Dooplaya District. These photos show houses that were funded by the Nippon Foundation and constructed by Shwe Min Ta Mun Public Co. LTD between 2016 and 2017. They [local authority] said those houses are for the IDPs and returning refugees. [Photos: KHRG]

These photos were taken on May 10th 2017 in C--- village, Noh T’Kaw Township [Kyainseikgyi], Dooplaya District. These photos show Thai villagers [from Noh T’Khaw] who constructed the road, [from 19 miles area to Noh T’Khaw village] a bridge and then built a dam across the C--- villagers’ water channel to block the water. They said they built the dam to avoid the water from the water channel destroying the bridge in the rainy season. This causes problems for the villagers; when the water cannot flow in to the river then that water will erode [damage] the civilians’ plantations which are located next to the water channel. [Photos: KHRG]

These photos were taken on May 10th 2017 in C--- village, Noh T’Kaw Township [Kyainseikgyi], Dooplaya District. These photos show Thai villagers [from Noh T’Khaw] who constructed the road, [from 19 miles area to Noh T’Khaw village] a bridge and then built a dam across the C--- villagers’ water channel to block the water. They said they built the dam to avoid the water from the water channel destroying the bridge in the rainy season. This causes problems for the villagers; when the water cannot flow in to the river then that water will erode [damage] the civilians’ plantations which are located next to the water channel. [Photos: KHRG]

These photos were taken on April 17th 2017 in Hpah Wah Klo village, Htee Moo Khee village tract, Noh T’Kaw Township [Kyainseikgyi], Dooplaya District. The left photo shows land which has been confiscated. The right photo shows the KNU land title. The paper shows the land owner’s name, age and size of land. [Photos: KHRG]

These photos were taken on April 17th 2017 in Hpah Wah Klo village, Htee Moo Khee village tract, Noh T’Kaw Township [Kyainseikgyi], Dooplaya District. The left photo shows land which has been confiscated. The right photo shows the KNU land title. The paper shows the land owner’s name, age and size of land. [Photos: KHRG]

Footnotes

[1] KHRG trains community members in southeast Burma/Myanmar to document individual human rights abuses using a standardised reporting format; conduct interviews with other villagers; and write general updates on the situation in areas with which they are familiar. When writing situation updates, community members are encouraged to summarise recent events, raise issues that they consider to be important, and present their opinions or perspective on abuse and other local dynamics in their area.

[2] In order to increase the transparency of KHRG methodology and more directly communicate the experiences and perspectives of villagers in southeastern Burma/Myanmar, KHRG aims to make all field information received available on the KHRG website once it has been processed and translated, subject only to security considerations. For additional reports categorised by Type, Issue, Location and Year, please see the Related Readings component following each report on KHRG’s website.

[3]Pa Doh is a title meaning ‘governor’ or ‘minister’ within the government.

[4] All conversion estimates for the kyat in this report are based on the September 11, 2017 official market rate of 1,353 kyat to US $1.